misery
(ˈmɪzərɪ)
Also 4–6 misere, mysere, 4–7 miserie, (5 mesury), 5–6 mysery(e, 6 misserie.
[a. OF. miserie (12th c.), ad. L. miseria, f. miser (see miser).
The 15th c. form miˈsere seems to be a later re-adoption from OF. misere (mod.F. misère).]
1. A condition of external unhappiness, discomfort, or distress; wretchedness of outward circumstances; distress caused by privation or poverty.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 272 Wrecche of wrecches, out of honour falle In-to miserie. c 1425 Eng. Conq. Irel. 43 Shew hym the mesury that thay Sufferid for his Sake. c 1450 Lovelich Grail xliii. 450 And so longe abod he here In povert and In gret Misere. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ii. viii. 84 In grete pouerte mysere & wretchidnes. 1535 Coverdale 2 Esdras ii. 17 Ye se the myserye y{supt} we are in, how Ierusalem lyeth wayst. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. ii. 41 Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellowes. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 810 But say That Death be not one stroak,..but endless miserie. 1705 Addison Italy 5 The extream Misery and Poverty that are in most of the Italian Governments. 1829 Lytton Devereux i. i, Early marriages were misery; imprudent marriages idiotism. 1836 Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. xix. 273 The converts live in great poverty, and their misery is augmented by prodigious swarms of mosquitoes. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 433 The sight of his misery affected his wife so much that she fainted. 1886 Ruskin Præterita I. 432 The misery of unaided poverty. |
| personified. 1750 Gray Elegy Epit., He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear. 1799 Cowper Castaway 59 But misery still delights to trace Its semblance in another's case. |
2. a. With † a and pl. A miserable condition or circumstance; a cause or source of wretchedness.
| 1509 Fisher Funeral Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 306 After that he [sc. Lazarus] was restored to the myseryes of this lyfe agayne, he neuer laugh. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Offices 24 b, The miseries of this wretched world. 1572 Huloet s.v., It is a great mysery to be very beautifull. 1615 Stow Ann. Pref. ¶5 What a hellish misery it is to have vnreconciliable warres in one small kingdome. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. iii. xvi. 398 The misery is, divers of them have fallen to frequent their Superstitions and Idolatries. 1697 Dryden æneid x. 1076 The Gods from Heav'n survey the fatal Strife, And mourn the Miseries of Human Life. 1788 Cowper Negro's Compl. 43 By the miseries that we tasted, Crossing in your barks the main. 1842 Borrow Bible in Spain vii, He was going to expose himself to inconceivable miseries and hardships. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 628 All the miseries of fallen greatness and of blighted fame. |
b. concr. A miserable person or place.
| 1790 F. Burney Diary (1842) V. 181, I am sure she would gladly have confined us both in the Bastile, had England such a misery. 1888 Lady 25 Oct. VIII. 374/2 ‘Small street Arabs’, she answered. ‘The little miseries out of the gutters’. |
c. misery me!, an interjection expressing self-pity, distress, or general wretchedness.
| 1888 W. S. Gilbert Yeomen of Guard ii. 48 Misery me, lackadaydee! He sipped no sup and he craved no crumb, As he sighed for the love of a ladye! 1968 N. Marsh Clutch of Constables i. 15 ‘O misery, misery, misery me,’ she wrote with enormous relish. |
3. The condition of one in great sorrow or distress of mind; miserable or wretched state of mind; a condition characterized by a feeling of extreme unhappiness.
| 1535 Coverdale Job iii. 20 Wherfore is the light geuen, to him that is in mysery? and life vnto them that haue heuy hertes? 1599 Return fr. Parnass. i. i. 472 Thanks, gentle nimphes, for this sweete harmonie! Soe musick yealdes some ease to miserie. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 563 Of good and evil much they argu'd then, Of happiness and final misery. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 35 It is acknowledged that rage, envy, resentment, are in themselves mere misery. 1833 Tennyson Two Voices 2 Thou art so full of misery, Were it not better not to be? 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxiv. 311 It seemed as if I had misery enough in my one heart to sink the city. |
† 4. Miserliness, niggardliness. Obs.
| 1531 Elyot Gov. iii. xxii. (1880) II. 345 This was but miserye and wretched nygardeshippe in a man of suche honour. 1579–80 North Plutarch, Galba (1595) 1107 His meane and simple ordinary of dyet..was imputed misery and niggardlines in him. 1600 Holland Livy iii. 131 The Senate right sparingly (such was their miserie), decreed..one daies thanksgiving..and no more. 1624 Wotton Elem. Archit. 66 A little misery in the Premises, may easily breed some absurdity of greater charge in the Conclusion. |
† 5. A mean or despicable condition. Obs.
| 1607 Dekker Knt.'s Conjur. (1842) 76 Into so lowe a miserie (if not contempt,) is the sacred art of poesie falne [etc.]. |
6. dial. Bodily pain; U.S. dial. (with a) a pain. to put (a person or animal) out of (his) misery: see put v.1 48 d.
| 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Misery, acute pain in any part of the body. ‘Misery in the head’, means a violent head-ache. 1867 Latham Black & White 38 Massa, I have such a misery in my back. 1895 Century Mag. Aug. 543/1 [His] most memorable remark was that he had ‘a misery in his stomach’. |
7. Cards. = misère 1. Common colloq.
8. Comb., as misery-line, misery-threshold; misery-making, misery-stricken, misery-thirsting adjs.
| 1813 Shelley Q. Mab vi. 126 Thou framedst A tale..to glut Thy misery-thirsting soul. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. xiv, Perverted uses of the misery-making money. 1896 Daily Tel. 10 Mar. 6/7 The misery-stricken people of Italy. 1902 W. James Var. Relig. Exper. vi. 135 The sanguine and healthy-minded live habitually on the sunny side of their misery-line. Ibid. v. 135 We might speak of a ‘pain-threshold’, a ‘fear-threshold’, a ‘misery-threshold’. |